Lydia+Swanson

On January 26, 1920, 24-year-old Lydia Elizabeth Swanson, daughter of Swedish immigrants, died at Chicago's Post Graduate Hospital from an abortion perpetrated by Dr. Rosa Gollnick.

Lydia had developed septic inflammation of both lungs.

Gollnick was arrested on January 27 and went to trial, but was acquitted on June 18.

Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see [|Abortion in the 1920s].

 For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion]

 Sources:
 * [|Homicide in Chicago Interactive]
 * death certificate



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